Chapter 247: Besieged, Strength, Saved

The Longshan army that had originally come for the Cold-Qiong encampment had suddenly rushed toward him, plus the three Cold-Resisting Realm experts with extraordinary strength above his head rushing straight toward him—how could Xia Hong not react?

In the critical moment, there was simply no time to think about the reason.

Keng... keng... keng...

Xia Hong's clothes rustled, his skin membrane tightened, and he picked away the long sword in the middle with lightning speed, then withdrew his long blade, colliding with the broadsword and long spear respectively like lightning.

"So fast!"

Long sword 12 *zong*, broadsword 11 *zong*, long spear 10 *zong*.

Xia Hong ignored the exclamations above his head. With a simple collision, he clearly sensed the strength of the three, then suddenly turned and rushed wildly toward the iron gate direction.

Du du du... puchi...

Thousands of sharp arrows hit his back like raindrops.

This was the reason Xia Hong rushed wildly.

Compared to the arrows shot by the Longyou Army, the threat of the three above his head was greater. He could only choose to deal with those three first, but the price of dealing with those three was that he had to endure this wave of arrow rain.

From the sound of the iron arrows hitting his back, one could tell that the first round of arrow rain didn't cause much damage to Xia Hong. Only two iron arrows, judging by the sound, seemed to have broken through flesh and blood.

"Continue shooting! Longyou Army, block the entrance, don't let him escape!"

Li Ying Xuan Ling's cold voice sounded. Half of the Longyou Army that had already entered the valley immediately set up their long bows again and began the second round of shooting.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh...

"All get out of my way!"

The sound of the second round of iron arrows breaking the air entered his ears. Xia Hong, who was less than 20 meters from the iron gate, looked up and roared, his ceremonial blade held in front of him, rushing straight toward the Longyou Army in front.

Only half of the Longyou Army had just entered the iron gate, and the other half had been stuck in the iron gate the whole time, just blocking him at this moment.

Plus Li Ying Xuan Ling, Li Ying Xuan Yan, and Li Xuantian, three Cold-Resisting Realm experts.

Not only that, there was also a 14-*zong* sharpshooter above his head!

"This is aimed at killing me..."

Listening to the sound of arrow rain behind him, a trace of excitement suddenly rose in Xia Hong's pupils. Ever since his strength had grown stronger and stronger, he had basically not faced any life-and-death crises.

The last time his situation was this difficult was dealing with the Wood Puppet Strange in the valley.

Looking at the Longyou Army blocking the iron gate, his eyes gradually became bloodthirsty.

"If you don't get out of the way, then die!"

Strictly speaking, he had no enmity with the encampments on the Longyou side, so even though the Longshan army had attacked just now, he hadn't killed anyone.

But since the other party had moved to kill first, he naturally wouldn't be soft-hearted.

Bang...

Xia Hong didn't use his blade. He turned his body sideways and crashed directly into the front row of the Longyou Army.

21 *zong* was 2.1 million jin. The explosive power generated by such a terrifying collision was a small mountain, which probably couldn't withstand it.

However, the Longyou Army blocked it!

The sound shook the sky. The violent impact made the five or six Longyou soldiers in the front row turn directly into meat paste, and at least 20-plus people fell along the way.

Around the entire iron gate, the formation composed of more than 500 Longyou soldiers was slightly disordered by his collision.

All the Longyou Army soldiers looked at Xia Hong, their expressions panicked, and their expressions were much more flustered. Clearly, they hadn't expected his strength to be so strong.

"Don't lose your formation! Form a ring and surround him! He is just one person!"

Li Ying Xuan Ling's voice came. The Longyou Army immediately calmed down a lot. More than 400 people immediately regained confidence, quickly standing in a ring, raising the black iron snake spears in their hands, and surrounding Xia Hong directly in the middle.

And the other half of the Longyou Army that had just entered the valley actually retreated at this time, merging with the Longyou Army surrounding Xia Hong, finally forming a thick encirclement of three layers inside and three layers outside, surrounding Xia Hong tightly in the innermost part.

The innermost part was hundreds of long spears, while the periphery continued to draw bows and shoot arrows. This group of Longshan people clearly wanted to completely annihilate Xia Hong.

Du du du... puchi... puchi...

The Longyou Army holding snake spears at close range didn't move, but the Longyou Army on the periphery shot another wave of dense arrow rain. Unlike the first two times, the distance was closer this time, and more arrows successfully broke through Xia Hong's skin membrane.

These Longyou Army soldiers were equipped with strong bows with a draw weight of more than 30 *shi*, and added to the fact that the distance was so close, the power was naturally stronger than just now.

If someone else had come, they probably would have been shot into a hedgehog on the spot.

Xia Hong wasn't relaxed either. Relying on his strong skin membrane, plus waving his ceremonial blade at high speed, although he successfully avoided and blocked the vast majority of iron arrows, a few still successfully inserted themselves into his body.

Puchi... puchi... puchi...

While waving his blade, Xia Hong nimbly pulled out a total of four iron arrows from his shoulder and back, turned his head to look at the inside of the valley, and seeing that the Cold-Qiong station's garrison had already retreated out of the outer valley and entered the inner valley, his gaze was instantly full of coldness.

Especially the moment he looked across the distance at Hou Tong, who was located at the gourd waist position, Xia Hong instantly understood.

A trap!

From beginning to end, this was a trap aimed at him!

The Cold-Resisting Realm expert who came from the north during the day must have brought some order from Hou Hu, which was why the two Cold-Resisting Realm experts had been staring at him the whole time. Even Hou Tong's sluggishness in the face of Longshan's attack just now was highly likely intentional.

"Want to kill me? Let's see your ability!"

Xia Hong withdrew his gaze, didn't care about the arrow rain from all directions, once again sacrificed his long blade to turn into a gale, and rushed wildly toward the iron gate position.

Bang...

Exactly the same as the last time, he could only crash to death five or six Longyou soldiers this time, but unlike the last time, the long blade in his hand also moved together with him.

Shiu...

The 1.7-meter-long ceremonial blade was like a horizontal sword in Xia Hong's hand, slashing straight through more than ten long spears, and even beheading more than ten Longyou soldiers. Although he didn't break through the encirclement, he was completely entangled with the Longyou Army in front of the west iron gate.

The moment they were entangled, the arrow rain stopped immediately.

"See how you shoot arrows now! Die for me!"

Xia Hong naturally wasn't intentionally entangled with them; he did it so that the Longyou Army in the rear wouldn't be able to shoot arrows so comfortably.

The ceremonial blade flew, drawing silver lights, appearing and disappearing like lightning in the dark night. Every silver light could bring out a blood line. Although it didn't reach the point of beheading, it forcibly opened a large gap on the west side, making the surrounding large army forcibly retreat outward.

The Longyou Army was retreating, but still didn't completely open the encirclement. They took turns coming forward, alternating people to entangle with Xia Hong.

This time, the effect was there.

"Vainly attempting to intervene in Longyou, Hong Xia, today is your death day!"

Li Ying Xuan Ling's cold, delicate shout sounded. A silver long sword slashed straight from the rear, the target clearly being Xia Hong's neck.

Longshan and Zhaoyang both knew about Great Xia!

This thought flashed through Xia Hong's mind. He held his ceremonial blade behind him, picked away Li Ying Xuan Ling's long sword, and at the same time, his legs kicked hard on the ground, turning around and slamming a punch with his left hand toward Li Ying Xuan Ling, who had already approached.

Keng... pa...

Two sounds rang out. One was the ceremonial blade successfully blocking the long sword, and the other was Xia Hong's left fist, the sound of being hit by a whip and successfully entangled.

Li Ying Xuan Ling's body technique was shockingly fast. Taking advantage of Xia Hong turning around to punch, her right hand holding the sword suddenly exerted force. While her body retreated rapidly, her left hand pulled out a section of a whip, which just happened to swing onto Xia Hong's left wrist, and with a *pa-da* sound, entangled him.

"Eldest Brother, Third Brother, go!"

Li Ying Xuan Ling dropped the long sword, gripped the long whip tightly with both hands, and pulled hard backward. Although she couldn't pull Xia Hong's body, she sensed that his strength was already far inferior to before, and immediately ordered Li Xuantian and Li Xuandu to act.

A broadsword and a long spear slashed from above his head and stabbed from his side.

Not only these three, but the Longyou Army forming a circle, realizing the opportunity was rare, also suddenly straightened their long spears and stabbed toward the middle.

These were hundreds of long spears stabbing at the same time!

Xia Hong's expression froze slightly, his left eye flashed with a faint light, and his left hand exerted force, pulling the whip and pulling Li Ying Xuan Ling, who was in front of him, directly over.

The giant force of 21 *zong*, even if the previous fighting had already made him unable to exert his full strength, how could a mere 12 *zong* Li Ying Xuan Ling restrict him so simply?

Li Ying Xuan Ling's expression was caught off guard, especially being pulled in front of Xia Hong, when the distance was only one or two meters, her pupils showed a trace of panic.

Just now, to facilitate using the long whip to control Xia Hong, she had dropped her sword.

"Kill me? It's not that simple!"

Xia Hong revealed a mocking smile at the corner of his mouth, raised his ceremonial blade, and prepared to place it on Li Ying Xuan Ling's neck. In this gap, he could even look around at the Longyou Army, as well as the ordinary large army of Longshan in the rear.

Those responsible for besieging him were basically the Longyou Army. Clearly, Li Ying Xuan Ling also knew that apart from the Longyou Army, the more than 1,000 ordinary Longshan large army couldn't pose any threat to him, so they just happened to send that part of the people to watch the Cold-Qiong large army retreating into the valley.

This siege aimed at him, the initiator should be Longshan. Hou Hu highly likely only agreed not to help either side, which was why Hou Tong led people to retreat into the valley.

In this way, Zhaoyang and Longshan were still in a posture of guarding against each other.

In the blink of an eye, Xia Hong had already analyzed many things in his mind. Just as he was about to withdraw his gaze, his vision suddenly paused for a moment at the front of the Longshan large army.

"That is... Wu Xiong?"

The three Cold-Resisting Realm experts who rushed into the valley in the first wave were named Wu Xiong, Zhou Yuan, and Meng Ying. Originally, Xia Hong didn't know these three people, thanks to Hou Tong calling out their identities.

And the reason Xia Hong's gaze would stay on Wu Xiong was because in his left eye's vision, around Wu Xiong's body, lingered an extremely rich fire-red substance.

Not only Wu Xiong, everyone on the Longshan side had a little bit, although not as rich as Wu Xiong.

Those substances were extremely active and were slowly spreading toward the rear, the target clearly being the Cold-Qiong people who had retreated into the valley.

"Why does it feel a bit... familiar..." The process of observing Wu Xiong's abnormality sounded very slow, but in reality, it was just an instant. Xia Hong's hand movements had never stopped, and the ceremonial blade was only a few centimeters away from being placed on Li Ying Xuan Ling's neck.

"Not right!"

At the critical moment, Xia Hong's brows suddenly knit together. While withdrawing the ceremonial blade, he suddenly turned his head and flashed his body toward the flank.

Shiu...

An iron arrow glowing with silver light passed directly from his left eyebrow corner, not only shooting away the Zhu Mu mask on his face but also pulling away a piece of flesh and blood. Blood flowed out, instantly staining half of his face red.

"So young!"

Seeing Xia Hong's true face, Li Xuandu couldn't help but exclaim.

Li Ying Xuan Yan beside him also couldn't help but have his expression freeze slightly, a trace of jealousy appearing in the depths of his eyes, and the killing intent was clearly heavier.

It wasn't just these two, including everyone in Longshan, including the Longyou Army, from Zhou Yuan, Meng Ying, and Wu Xiong down to the ordinary Earth-Digging Realm experts; even Hou Tong in the distance, and the people in the Cold-Qiong station.

The moment they saw Xia Hong's true face, their faces were full of disbelief.

"How could he be so young?"

!

"Twenty-something?"

"Seems to be about the same age as Li Ying Xuan Ling."

The mask Xia Hong wore before had an appearance of less than thirty.

Age was not the problem; the key was Xia Hong's strength.

The younger the age, the stronger the strength, and the greater the potential naturally.

This was a simple truth.

Previously, the first time he appeared on the east side of Longshan, Xia Hong's move to save Hou Hu had already aroused Longshan's wariness, including Hou Hu, even if he didn't say it at the time, he had a little bit in his heart.

Cold-Resisting Realm, forty was the norm. Thirty years old was already considered a genius. Like Li Ying Xuan Ling, it was the only one in Longyou in nearly a hundred years.

Recalling the strength Xia Hong displayed when he forced back Li Tiancheng and saved Hou Hu on the right side of Longshan three days ago, and then looking at this face that was only twenty-something, one could imagine the shock in everyone's hearts.

Shock was secondary; more, naturally, was still wariness.

"Hong Xia is not your real name either. Great Xia leader Xia Hong is your real identity, right?"

The only person in the whole scene who remained calm was probably Li Ying Xuan Ling.

She looked at Xia Hong, not only full of fighting spirit on her face but even broke through Xia Hong's real identity in one word.

Xia Hong looked up at Li Ying Xuan Ling, revealed a smile on his face, and sighed softly: "Still underestimated you!"

Then he revealed a trace of curiosity and asked: "I shouldn't have revealed any flaws from beginning to end. How did you see it?"

"Why don't you surrender now, and I'll tell you, how about it?"

Seeing that beautiful face of Li Ying Xuan Ling full of confidence, the smile in Xia Hong's eyes became thicker. He looked up at Wu Xiong in the rear, then laughed: "Just with these few people of yours in Longshan, you want to keep me? If Hou Tong and the others also made a move, there would still be a possibility!"

Li Ying Xuan Ling heard this, turned her head to glance at the inside of the valley, and her expression sank.

Hou Tong leading people to retreat into the valley clearly meant he didn't intend to make a move. She was now besieging Xia Hong with people, and the biggest beneficiary in the end was Zhaoyang.

Xia Hong was pointing at her; how could she not hear it?

Li Ying Xuan Ling's expression was slightly cold. She looked at Xia Hong and said in a deep voice: "Compared to Zhaoyang's Hou Hu, I actually think you are Longshan's biggest trouble, so today, you must die!"

As the words fell, Li Ying Xuan Ling once again leaned forward. Li Ying Xuan Yan and Li Xuandu followed closely behind, quickly entangled with Xia Hong again.

Xia Hong's ceremonial blade flew. He had to fight three Cold-Resisting Realm experts and avoid the long spears stabbed by the Longyou Army at any time. More importantly, his mind had to be divided into a part to pay attention to the sharpshooter hidden very deeply above the stone wall.

Li Ying Xuan Ling's plan was very clear.

The three of them, plus the Longyou Army, were using a wheel battle to consume and wear down his strength and fighting spirit, while the sharpshooter hidden in the dark waited for an opportunity to give him a fatal blow.

From the iron arrow that shot through the mask just now, one could see that Li Ying Xuan Ling's strategy was very effective.

"If I let you drag it out like this, maybe I really will capsize in the gutter!"

Xia Hong sneered, turned his head to look at the hundreds of Longyou Army soldiers at the iron gate, and the killing intent in his eyes grew stronger. Taking advantage of the entanglement with Li Ying Xuan Ling and the three, he constantly approached that side.

Being fellow humans, Xia Hong still had some resistance to going on a complete killing spree, but if his life was really in danger, he wouldn't be soft-hearted anymore.

Kill!

This thought flashed through Xia Hong's mind. His left eye's light flashed and disappeared. His body suddenly rushed forward, and he swung his ceremonial blade directly toward the Longyou Army at the iron gate position.

Puchi...

With the brutal physical impact and the thousand-refined ceremonial blade waving at high speed, the ten-plus people in the front row of the Longyou Army were either ground into meat paste or hit by the ceremonial blade and beheaded.

"Retreat! Detour and deal with him! Just surround and besiege him!"

Xia Hong, firing on all cylinders, suddenly erupted with strength even stronger than just now, while Li Ying Xuan Ling's side still wouldn't give up, still loudly ordering the Longyou Army.

Seeing the Longyou Army really didn't let go of the iron gate, Xia Hong's left eye opened angrily, and a thick light suddenly condensed from within.

Puchi...

However, at this moment, an iron arrow suddenly shot from the outside of the valley.

"Eldest Brother, we are here!"

"Dare to hurt the leader, I want your lives!"

"All get out of my way."

"Leader, we are here to save you!"

That iron arrow was just a beginning.

Following more than ten familiar voices, more than ten iron arrows sweeping with giant force pierced through twenty or thirty Longyou Army soldiers.

Hu...

A black blade suddenly slashed from outside the iron gate. More than ten figures followed closely behind. Whether they were knives, swords, guns, or hammers, they all exerted terrifying strength. In less than five or six breaths, they dispersed all the hundreds of Longyou Army soldiers blocking the iron gate, forcibly hitting a gap.

On Xia Hong's side, his left eye had long since returned to normal. He turned his head to look at the gap.

Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, Qiu Peng, Lu Yang, Lin Kai, Zhao Long, Zhao Hu, Zhao Bao, Zhu Yuan, Huang Yong, Hong Gang... a large pile of familiar faces came into view. Xia Hong didn't even care why Chen Yingyuan, Chen Yingba, Wu Tianxing, and Peng Bo were added to the crowd.

"Hahaha, you guys came just in time!"

Speaking of which, it had only been four months, but seeing the Great Xia crowd, Xia Hong still revealed an incomparably happy smile, and the killing intent that had just climbed up in his heart quickly dissipated a lot.

"Haha, it seems the Young Lady's wishful thinking is going to fall through!"

Xia Hong, in a good mood, turned his head and found Li Ying Xuan Ling, whose expression was very ugly, and couldn't help but tease her.

"Dare to hurt Eldest Brother, I want your lives!"

"The leader's face was hurt by an arrow? Slaughter this group of dogs..."

"Dare to hurt the leader, kill!"

Xia Hong was in a good mood, but Xia Chuan and the others over there were not.

Seeing Xia Hong's left face stained red with blood, Xia Chuan was instantly furious, holding a black blade and rushing straight toward the Longyou Army inside the iron gate;

The others, reminded by him, also noticed Xia Hong's facial injuries, and their anger instantly climbed up, following Xia Chuan with murderous intent and rushing toward the Longyou Army.

The status of Xia Hong, this leader, in their hearts was no different from a god, and had long since become a synonym for sacred. Even Cold-Resisting Realm experts, usually in the Great Xia station, found it difficult to see him, and close contact was even more unimaginable.

But now, they actually saw the deity in their hearts injured like this.

In the eyes of the Great Xia crowd, this was simply unacceptable.

Peng Bo, Chen Yingyuan, Chen Yingba, and Wu Tianxing simply couldn't understand why Xia Chuan and the others were so angry, but seeing Xia Chuan lead people to rush up, they had to follow behind.

Fifteen Cold-Resisting Realm experts, holding different weapons, rushed toward the iron gate at the same time.

The destructive power caused by this was much more terrifying than Xia Hong alone just now.

"Eldest Brother, Divine Arm bow, catch it!"

Xia Chuan rushed into the iron gate, killed five or six Longyou Army soldiers, and immediately took down the pale golden strong bow on his back, as well as a quiver of matching iron arrows, and threw them directly to Xia Hong.

Xia Hong took the bow and arrows, saw the thousand-refined silver patterns on the bow body, and then tested the bowstring. His expression was instantly invigorated, and then he inadvertently looked up at the top of the stone wall, the coldness in his eyes fleeting.

"No need to kill, run!"

Xia Hong rushed straight toward the gap, shouted to stop Xia Chuan and the others who were killing, and then signaled everyone to retreat.

In all fairness, even with so many Cold-Resisting Realm experts, they couldn't be the opponents of the Longyou Army. Xia Chuan and the others could cause such great momentum, in the final analysis, because they took advantage of the few defenders at the iron gate.

"Form a formation to surround and kill! Don't let them break through the formation!"

On Li Ying Xuan Ling's side, she had already begun to mobilize the Longyou Army.

They could only retreat!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 248 =====